Want Better Hair? Start with a Better Scalp!

After visiting Ouidad salon in New York City last week to try out her new Luxe Mediterranean Bay Leaf Hair and Scalp Treatment, we started thinking about the importance of a healthy scalp—and how it helps your hair look amazing.

For the new service at the salon, our stylist mixed bay leaf oil (imported from Lebanon), a fine-grained natural exfoliant, and an amino acid protein base and massaged it it onto our squeaky clean scalp for 5 relaxing minutes. We then sat under a heated dryer for 20 minutes with the oils on our hair. After a rinse and blow-out, our hair looked, basically, awesome: silky and shiny, and our scalp felt like it could breathe.

The treatment is great for people with dry, flaky scalps or for anyone who wants to remove product build up, and you can also do your own version at home. Here's what Ouidad suggests:

Start by washing with a gentle shampoo. For the base, use two ounces of Ouidad Deep Treatment—it contains a unique blend of amino acids, moisturizing proteins, and antioxidants. Add one tablespoon of clove oil as a substitute for bay leaf oil (it's sold at health stores such as GNC). Last, add in one tablespoon of finely crushed almonds as the exfoliant. Mix together and massage in, let it sit for 20 minutes, and then rinse.--Jessica Prince, Assistant Editor

Have you ever tried a scalp treatment like this one at a salon, or as a DIY project? How did it turn out? Are you curious to try this neat little concoction? It sounds so luxurious!